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Pairing discriminative stimuli with unique reinforcers provides an additional cue to correct responding. In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the differential outcomes procedure in teaching novel tacts and facilitating transfer of tacts to novel discriminative stimuli. Four children diagnosed with developmental or intellectual disability were taught a unique pair of related tacts both under a differential outcomes condition and under a nondifferential outcomes condition where the reinforcers were uncorrelated with the sample stimuli. In the former, the different outcomes were two forms of the same reinforcer. Three out of four participants met the mastery criterion sooner under the differential outcomes condition. Two participants also generalized to novel stimuli under the differential outcomes condition. When we tested for the inclusion of the reinforcers in the stimulus class, three participants demonstrated the acquisition of emergent stimulus-outcomes and response-outcomes relations. The study provides support for the use of the differential outcomes procedure as a cost-effective means of enhancing the acquisition of discriminated responses in an applied setting. Keywords Differential outcomes effect * Conditional discrimination * Tact training * Translational research, Under a differential outcomes procedure (DOP) stimulus-specific reinforcers are used during the concurrent acquisition of several discriminated responses. Researchers have found that when reinforcers for correct responding are specific to [...]

Reinforcers may increase operant responding via a response-strengthening mechanism whereby the probability of the preceding response increases, or via some discriminative process whereby the response more likely to provide subsequent reinforcement becomes, itself, more likely. We tested these two accounts. Six pigeons responded for food reinforcers in a two-alternative switching-key concurrent schedule. Within a session, equal numbers of reinforcers were arranged for responses to each alternative. Those reinforcers strictly alternated between the two alternatives in half the conditions, and were randomly allocated to the alternatives in half the conditions. We also varied, across conditions, the alternative that became available immediately after a reinforcer. Preference after a single reinforcer always favored the immediately available alternative, regardless of the local probability of a reinforcer on that alternative (0 or 1 in the strictly alternating conditions, 0.5 in the random conditions). Choice then reflected the local reinforcer probabilities, suggesting some discriminative properties of reinforcement. At a more extended level, successive same-alternative reinforcers from an alternative systematically shifted preference towards that alternative, regardless of which alternative was available immediately after a reinforcer. There was no similar shift when successive reinforcers came from alternating sources. These more temporally extended results may suggest a strengthening function of reinforcement, or an enhanced ability to respond appropriately to "win-stay" contingencies over "win-shift" contingencies. (Contains 1 table and 7 figures.)

Conditioned reinforcer effects may be due to the stimulus' discriminative rather than its strengthening properties. While this was demonstrated in a frequently-changing choice procedure, a single attempt to replicate in a relatively static choice environment failed. We contend that this was because the information provided by the stimuli was nonredundant in the frequently-changing preparation, and redundant in the steady-state arrangement. In the present experiments, 6 pigeons worked in a steady-state concurrent schedule procedure with nonredundant informative stimuli (red keylight illuminations). When a response-contingent red keylight signaled that the next food delivery was more likely on one of the two alternatives, postkeylight choice responding was reliably for that alternative. This effect was enhanced after a history of extended informative red keylight presentation (Experiment 2). These results lend support to recent characterizations of conditioned reinforcer effects as reflective of a discriminative, rather than a reinforcing, property of the stimulus. (Contains 1 table and 8 figures.)

It has long been understood that food deliveries may act as signals of future food location, and not only as strengtheners of prefood responding as the law of effect suggests. Recent research has taken this idea further--the main effect of food deliveries, or other "reinforcers", may be signaling rather than strengthening. The present experiment investigated the ability of food deliveries to signal food contingencies across time after food. In Phase 1, the next food delivery was always equally likely to be arranged for a left- or a right-key response. Conditions were arranged such that the next food delivery was likely to occur either sooner on the left (or right) key, or sooner on the just-productive (or not-just-productive) key. In Phase 2, similar contingencies were arranged, but the last-food location was signaled by a red keylight. Preference, measured in 2-s bins across interfood intervals, was jointly controlled by the likely time and location of the next food delivery. In Phase 1, when any food delivery signaled a likely sooner next food delivery on a particular key, postfood preference was strongly toward that key, and moved toward the other key across the interreinforcer interval. In other conditions in which food delivery on the two keys signaled different subsequent contingencies, postfood preference was less extreme, and quickly moved toward indifference. In Phase 2, in all three conditions, initial preference was strongly toward the likely-sooner food key, and moved to the other key across the interfood interval. In both phases, at a more extended level of analysis, sequences of same-key food deliveries caused a small increase in preference for the just-productive key, suggesting the presence of a "reinforcement effect", albeit one that was very small. (Contains 1 table and 19 figures.)

Four pigeons were trained on two-key concurrent variable-interval schedules with no changeover delay. In Phase 1, relative reinforcers on the two alternatives were varied over five conditions from 0.1 to 0.9. In Phases 2 and 3, we instituted a molar feedback function between relative choice in an interreinforcer interval and the probability of reinforcers on the two keys ending the next interreinforcer interval. The feedback function was linear, and was negatively sloped so that more extreme choice in an interreinforcer interval made it more likely that a reinforcer would be available on the other key at the end of the next interval. The slope of the feedback function was -1 in Phase 2 and -3 in Phase 3. We varied relative reinforcers in each of these phases by changing the intercept of the feedback function. Little effect of the feedback functions was discernible at the local (interreinforcer interval) level, but choice measured at an extended level across sessions was strongly and significantly decreased by increasing the negative slope of the feedback function. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

Four pigeons were trained on a conditional discrimination. The conditional stimuli were compounds of pairs of stimuli from two different dimensions, fast versus slow cycles of red or green stimuli, and short- versus long-duration presentations of these cycles. Across conditions, the probability of reinforcers for correctly responding to each dimension was varied from 0 to 1. Discriminability, measured by log "d," for stimuli on a dimension increased as the relative frequency of reinforcers for that dimension increased, replicating the results of Shahan and Podlesnik (2006). Two further conditions showed that discriminability between stimuli on each dimension was unaffected by whether the stimuli on the other dimension varied or were constant. Finally, maximal discriminability was unchanged in a redundant-relevant cues condition in which either of the stimuli comprising a compound signaled the same correct response. Davison and Nevin's (1999) model provided an excellent quantitative account of the effect of relative reinforcer frequency on discriminability, and thus of the way in which divided stimulus control is itself controlled by relative reinforcement. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, and 1 footnote.)

Five pigeons responded on steady-state concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules of food presentation in which half of the foods were removed and replaced with nonfood stimuli. Across conditions, the stimuli were either paired or unpaired with food, and the correlation between the ratio of food deliveries on the two alternatives and the ratio of nonfood stimuli was either -1, 0, or +1. Neither the pairing of stimuli with food, nor the correlation between stimuli and food, affected generalized-matching performance, but paired stimuli had a demonstrable effect at a local level of analysis. This effect was independent of the food-stimulus correlation. These results differ from results previously obtained in a frequently changing environment. We attribute this difference in results to differences in the information value of response-contingent stimuli in frequently changing versus relatively constant environments, as well as to differences between forward pairing and simultaneous pairing of the stimuli with food. (Contains 2 tables and 11 figures.)

We investigated the effects of differential and nondifferential reinforcers on divided control by compound‐stimulus dimensions. Six pigeons responded in a delayed matching‐to‐sample procedure in which a blue or yellow sample stimulus flashed on/off at a fast or slow rate, and subjects reported its color or alternation frequency. The dimension to report was unsignaled (Phase 1) or signaled (Phase 2). Correct responses were reinforced with a probability of.70, and the probability of reinforcers for errors varied across conditions. Comparison choice depended on reinforcer ratios for correct and incorrect responding; as the frequency of error reinforcers according to a dimension increased, control (measured by log d) by that dimension decreased and control by the other dimension increased. Davison and Nevin's (1999) model described data when the dimension to report was unsignaled, whereas model fits were poorer when it was signaled, perhaps due to carryover between conditions. We are the first to test this quantitative model of divided control with reinforcers for errors and when the dimension to report is signaled; hence, further research is needed to establish the model's generality. We question whether divided stimulus control is dimensional and suggest it may instead reflect joint control by compound stimuli and reinforcer ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisms may sometimes behave as if a contingency exists between behavior and consequences, even if this is not actually the case. Killeen (1978) suggested that such superstition occurs because of factors that bias subjects to behave "superstitiously" rather than because of failures of discrimination. We systematically replicated Killeen's experiment and compared contingency discrimination between different consequences. Six pigeons responded in a matching‐to‐sample procedure in which a response‐independent or response‐dependent stimulus change, food delivery, or blackout occurred. The pigeons reported whether the consequence was response dependent or response independent by choosing between two side keys. Discrimination was strongest after stimulus changes, weaker after blackouts, and weakest after food deliveries. These differences persisted even after additional training, suggesting asymmetries that may reflect differences in the disruptive effects of different consequences on remembering and/or behavioral mnemonics. Importantly, the pigeons were not biased to report response‐dependent consequences unless that response was consistent with locational biases; that is, they behaved "superstitiously" when there was a reason to be biased to do so. These findings corroborate Killeen's and demonstrate that behavior may deviate from contingencies not necessarily because subjects cannot discriminate those contingencies but because they are biased to behave otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulus overselectivity describes strong control by one stimulus element at the expense of other equally relevant elements. Research suggests that control by underselected stimuli emerges following extinction of the overselected stimulus ("revaluation") and the emergence is larger when overselectivity is greater. We compared such revaluation effects with a control compound or condition in two experiments. Human participants chose between compound S+ and S‐ stimuli. Then, to assess control by compound‐stimulus elements, participants chose between individual elements in a testing phase without feedback. The S+ element chosen most often (the overselected element) underwent revaluation, during which choice of that element was extinguished and choice of a novel element reinforced. Thereafter, participants completed a retesting phase. Revaluation reduced choice of the overselected element. Choice of the underselected element decreased for participants with low overselectivity but increased for participants with high overselectivity. This was not the case for a control compound that did not undergo revaluation (Experiments 1 and 2) or in a control condition in which the overselected element continued to be reinforced during revaluation (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that overselectivity levels may modulate revaluation effects, and they also highlight the importance of the contingency change in postrevaluation changes in stimulus control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforcing an alternative response in the same context as a target response reduces the rate of occurrence but increases the persistence of that target response. Applied researchers who use such techniques to decrease the rate of a target problem behavior risk inadvertently increasing the persistence of the same problem behavior. Behavioral momentum theory asserts that the increased persistence is a function of the alternative reinforcement enhancing the Pavlovian relation between the target stimulus context and reinforcement. A method showing promise for reducing the persistence-enhancing effects of alternative reinforcement is to train the alternative response in a separate stimulus context before combining with the target stimulus in extinction. The present study replicated previous findings using pigeons by showing that combining an "alternative" richer VI schedule (96 reinforcers/hr) with a "target" leaner VI schedule (24 reinforcers/hr) reduced resistance to extinction of target responding compared with concurrent training of the alternative and target responses (totaling 120 reinforcers/hr). We also found less relapse with a reinstatement procedure following extinction with separate-context training, supporting previous findings that training conditions similarly influence both resistance to extinction and relapse. Finally, combining the alternative stimulus context was less disruptive to target responding previously trained in the concurrent schedule, relative to combining with the target response trained alone. Overall, the present findings suggest the technique of combining stimulus contexts associated with alternative responses with those associated with target responses disrupts target responding. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this disruption is a function of training context of reinforcement for target responding, consistent with assertions of behavioral momentum theory. (Contains 8 figures.)

We aimed to investigate whether novel stimulus relations would emerge from stimulus correlations when those relations explicitly conflicted with reinforced relations. In a symbolic matching-to-sample task using kanji characters as stimuli, we arranged class-specific incorrect comparison stimuli in each of three classes. After presenting either Ax or Cx stimuli as samples, choices of Bx were reinforced and choices of Gx or Hx were not. Tests for symmetry, and combined symmetry and transitivity, showed the emergence of three 3-member (AxBxCx) stimulus classes in 5 of 5 human participants. Subsequent tests for all possible emergent relations between Ax, Bx, Cx and the class-specific incorrect comparisons Gx and Hx showed that these relations emerged for 4 of 5 the participants after extended overtraining of the baseline relations. These emergent relations must have been based on stimulus-stimulus correlations, and were not properties of the trained discriminated operants, because they required control by relations explicitly extinguished during training. This result supports theoretical accounts of emergent relations that emphasize stimulus correlation over operant contingencies. (Contains 6 figures.)

One assumption of the matching approach to choice is that different independent variables control choice independently of each other. We tested this assumption for reinforcer rate and magnitude in an extensive parametric experiment. Five pigeons responded for food reinforcement on switching-key concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules. Across conditions, the ratios of reinforcer rates and of reinforcer magnitudes on the two alternatives were both manipulated. Control by each independent variable, as measured by generalized-matching sensitivity, changed significantly with the ratio of the other independent variable. Analyses taking the model-comparison approach, which weighs improvement in goodness-of-fit against increasing number of free parameters, were inconclusive. These analyses compared a model assuming constant sensitivity to magnitude across all reinforcer-rate ratios with two alternative models. One of those alternatives allowed sensitivity to magnitude to vary freely across reinforcer-rate ratios, and was less efficient than the common-sensitivity model for all pigeons, according to the Schwarz-Bayes information criterion. The second alternative model constrained sensitivity to magnitude to be equal for pairs of reinforcer-rate ratios that deviated from unity by proportionately equal amounts but in opposite directions. This model was more efficient than the common-magnitude-sensitivity model for 2 of the pigeons, but not for the other 3. An analysis of variance, carried out independently of the generalized-matching analysis, also showed a significant interaction between the effects of reinforcer rate and reinforcer magnitude on choice. On balance, these results suggest that the assumption of independence inherent in the matching approach cannot be maintained. Relative reinforcer rates and magnitudes do not control choice independently. (Contains 2 tables, 5 figures and 1 footnote.)

We investigated the effects of discriminative stimuli on choice in a highly variable environment using a procedure in which multiple two-key concurrent VI VI components changed every 10 reinforcers and were signaled by differential flashes of red and yellow keylights. Across conditions, five pigeons were exposed to a number of different combinations of the following component reinforcer ratios: 27:1, 9:1, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, 1:9, 1:27. Overall, there was clear control by the component signals in that preference, early in components and particularly before any reinforcers had been delivered, was ordinally related to the signaled reinforcer ratios. In conditions in which only two components arranged unequal reinforcer ratios (e.g., 27:1 and 1:27) with the remaining components arranging 1:1 reinforcer ratios, preference before the first reinforcer in a component showed peak shift in that the most extreme preference did not occur in the unequal reinforcer-ratio components, but in 1:1 components further towards the ends of the stimulus dimension. The contingency-discriminability model (Davison & Nevin, 1999) was fitted to the data and provided an excellent description of the interactions between stimulus and reinforcer effects in a highly variable environment. (Contains 3 tables and 11 figures.)

Sidman's (2000) theory regarding the origin of equivalence relations predicts that a reinforcing stimulus common to distinct equivalence classes must drop out of the equivalence relations. This prediction was tested in the present study by arranging class-specific reinforcers, R1 and R2, following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional discriminations (Ax-Bx, Cx-Bx) for two stimulus classes, A1B1C1 and A2B2C2. A class-common reinforcer, R3, was presented following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional discriminations for a further two stimulus classes, A3B3C3 and A4B4C4. Sidman's theory predicts reinforcer inclusion within Classes 1 and 2 only, given this training arrangement. Experiment 1 tested for the emergence of four equivalence classes and of stimulus-reinforcer and reinforcer-stimulus relations in each class. Four of the 6 subjects demonstrated the reinforcer-based relations in all four equivalence classes, rather than in only those classes with a class-specific reinforcer, as Sidman's theory predicts. One of the remaining 2 subjects showed the reinforcer-based relations in three of the four classes. Experiment 2 extended these findings to document the emergence of interclass matching relations based on the common reinforcer R3, in 5 of 6 subjects, such that a Class 3 sample occasioned the selection of a Class 4 sample when the Class 3 comparison was absent, and similarly, a Class 4 sample occasioned the selection of a Class 3 comparison when the Class 4 comparison was absent. These interclass relations emerged despite the simultaneous maintenance of Class 3 and 4 baseline conditional discriminations, so that the Class 3 and 4 stimuli and reinforcer simultaneously were, and were not, part of a single larger equivalence class. These data are irreconcilable with Sidman's theory, and question the utility of the application of the equivalence relation in describing derived stimulus relations. (Contains 10 figures and 2 footnotes.)

We investigated the effects that sequences of reinforcers obtained from the same response key have on local preference in concurrent variable-interval schedules with pigeons as subjects. With an overall reinforcer rate of one every 27 s, on average, reinforcers were scheduled dependently, and the probability that a reinforcer would be arranged on the same alternative as the previous reinforcer was manipulated. Throughout the experiment, the overall reinforcer ratio was 1:1, but across conditions we varied the average lengths of same-key reinforcer sequences by varying this conditional probability from 0 to 1. Thus, in some conditions, reinforcer locations changed frequently, whereas in others there tended to be very long sequences of same-key reinforcers. Although there was a general tendency to stay at the just-reinforced alternative, this tendency was considerably decreased in conditions where same-key reinforcer sequences were short. Some effects of reinforcers are at least partly to be accounted for by their signaling subsequent reinforcer locations. (Contains 1 table and 16 figures.)

Sidman's (2000) theory regarding the origin of equivalence relations predicts that a reinforcing stimulus common to distinct equivalence classes must drop out of the equivalence relations. This prediction was tested in a study by arranging class-specific reinforcers, R1 and R2, following correct responding on the prerequisite conditional discriminations (Ax-Bx, Cx-Bx) for stimulus classes A1B1C1 and A2B2C2.

The authors discuss an experiment using pigeons to test their sensitivity to reinforcement when trained on variable-interval schedules in which two travel times between alternatives were arranged randomly.

Researchers examine pigeons' insistence in foraging for prey, and the length of foraging time spent in one area. An evaluation of the relationship between food deprivation, patch residence time, and session duration in an open economy is presented.

The responses of pigeons show an increase in time allocation over response-allocation sensitivity in concurrent exponential and arithmetic variable-interval schedules. The exponential-schedule sensitivity is also greater than arithmetic-schedule sensitivity for both measures of choice. The correlation of the shortest interval of the Hybrid 6 schedule with the mean interval, produce response and time sensitivities is lower than the changes variedly with overall reinforcer rates.

An experiment studied how pigeons responded to food reinforcement on multiple variable-interval schedules where the total food consumption was fully dictated by the pigeons' interaction with the schedules. Results found evidence of overmatching, as seen in more extreme response allocation between components than the distribution of reinforcers. There was a drop in generalized-matching sensitivity from overmatching to undermatching values in traditional multiple schedules when food deprivation was raised by cutting session duration. Sensitivity likewise increased from undermatching to overmatching when the session became longer.

It is widely assumed that reinforcers are biologically relevant stimuli, or stimuli that have been associated with biologically relevant stimuli. However, brief, arbitrary stimuli have also been reported to have reinforcement‐like effects, despite being unrelated to biologically relevant stimuli like food. The present study explored the potential reinforcement‐like effects of brief stimuli across 5 experiments. In Experiments 1 through 4, pigeon subjects responded for food reinforcement and brief stimulus presentations in a 2‐component multiple schedule. Neither baseline response rates nor resistance to change during disruption tests were systematically greater in a component with versus without brief stimulus presentations. Increasing the rate and duration of brief stimulus presentations in Experiment 4 did not reveal reinforcement‐like effects when compared directly with food. In Experiment 5, pigeons chose between independent terminal links in a concurrent‐chains procedure. Across conditions, varying the location, duration, and rate of brief stimulus presentations in the terminal links had no systematic effects on preference. In contrast, varying rates of food reinforcers resulted in large and reliable shifts in preference. Therefore, the present study found no systematic evidence that brief stimuli unrelated to food reliably increase response rates, resistance to change, or preference. These data demonstrate the value of systematic replication, and a behavioral momentum approach to assessing potential reinforcement‐like effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments involving the response of pigeons for food reinforcement on switching-key concurrent variable-interval schedules are conducted to examine whether different independent variables control choice independently. Results indicate that relative reinforcer rates and magnitude do not control concurrent choice independently.

The effects that sequences of same-key reinforcers obtained from the same response key have on local preference in concurrent variable-interval schedules with pigeons as subjects are investigated. Although there was a general tendency to stay at the just-reinforced alternative, this tendency was considerably decreased in conditions where same-key reinforcer sequences were short.

The quantification of steady-state choice in concurrent schedules is analyzed. The results extended previous research using the same basic procedure that had included only reinforcer distributions symmetrical around 1:1 and the analysis suggests that the variables controlling choice operated at a number of levels.

An experiment was conducted in which five pigeons are trained on pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules in a switching key procedure. The results of the study that maintained an overall constant rate of reinforcement are described.

Six pigeons were experimented to find the response on pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules with, four different arrangements of alteration between the schedules. Differences in behavior preceding the different-postswitch are exhibited in the signaled random alternation procedure.

We present a systematic review and a meta‐analysis comparing the differential outcomes procedure to a nondifferential outcomes procedure among clinical and nonclinical populations. Sixty distinct experiments were included in the systematic review, 43 of which were included in the meta‐analysis. We calculated pooled effect sizes for accuracy (overall accuracy, test accuracy, transfer accuracy) and acquisition outcomes (latency, errors, and trials to mastery). The meta‐analysis revealed significant medium‐to‐large effect sizes for all three accuracy measures (pooled effect size range, 0.57 to 1.30). We found relatively greater effect sizes among clinical populations (effect size = 1.04). The single‐subject experimental literature included in the systematic review was consistent with the findings from the group studies, demonstrating improvements in accuracy and speed of learning for the majority of participants. Moderator and subgroup analyses suggest that discrimination difficulty may induce relatively larger differential outcomes effects. The results indicate that the differential outcomes procedure can be a valuable addition to reinforcement‐based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce to behavior analysis a way of analyzing choice behavior that exploits recent developments in nanoeconomics, financial economics, and econometrics. A response return, modeled on an economic return, is the log differenced count of responses allocated to each of two alternatives during a short time window, compared with that in the immediately preceding window. The response return is a new dependent variable which offers a novel and useful way of looking at operant behavior, especially at the molecular level of analysis. The response–return series is a near‐instantaneous measure of an organism's dynamic preferences for each of two alternatives. Analyzing such a series requires time‐analytic techniques, including Auto‐Regressive Conditional Heteroskedastic (ARCH) models. We illustrate these techniques by analyzing choices between combinations of arithmetic and exponential variable‐interval schedules with pigeon subjects. All response–return series were well‐fitted by one of three ARCH‐family models. The fitted models were differentially sensitive to transition versus steady‐state data samples. The particular insights that the ARCH analyses offer are improved understanding of the effects of the instantaneous effects of reinforcers and their absence, of how the distribution of reinforcers in time affects choice, and of the differences between choice in transition and at steady state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We advocate for rank‐permutation tests as the best choice for null‐hypothesis significance testing of behavioral data, because these tests require neither distributional assumptions about the populations from which our data were drawn nor the measurement assumption that our data are measured on an interval scale. We provide an algorithm that enables exact‐probability versions of such tests without recourse to either large‐sample approximation or resampling approaches. We particularly consider a rank‐permutation test for monotonic trend, and provide an extension of this test that allows unequal number of data points, or observations, for each subject. We provide an extended table of critical values of the test statistic for this test, and both a spreadsheet implementation and an Oracle® Java Web Start application to generate other critical values at https://sites.google.com/a/eastbayspecialists.co.nz/rank-permutation/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Control by stimuli signaling future reinforcer availability is often weaker in more certain environments. • We examined whether this was the case when reinforcer availability changed over time. • Across conditions, we varied the certainty of the next-reinforcer location at a particular time. • Stimuli strongly controlled behavior and environmental contingencies exerted weak control. • Control by stimuli and by the environment may depend on global, not local, environmental certainty. Abstract Several studies suggest that the degree of control by reinforcer ratios (environment tracking) and by exteroceptive stimuli that signal future reinforcer availability (signal following) depends on environmental certainty: As reinforcers become more likely at one location, environmental contingencies exert stronger control and exteroceptive stimuli exert weaker control. This research has not yet been extended to environments in which reinforcer availability changes across time, even though such changes are present in most natural environments. Thus, in the present experiment, we examined environment tracking and signal following in a concurrent schedule in which the reinforcer ratio reversed to its reciprocal 30 s after a reinforcer delivery and keylight-color stimuli signaled the likely or definite time or location of the next reinforcer. Across conditions, we manipulated environmental certainty by varying the probability of reinforcer deliveries on the locally richer key. This made the location of future reinforcers at a particular time more or less certain, but did not change the overall reinforcer ratio. Changes in local environmental certainty had little to no effect on environment tracking and signal following; in all conditions, keylight-color stimuli strongly controlled choice and reinforcer ratios exerted weak control. The present findings suggest that the extent of environment tracking and signal following is primarily determined by global, not local, environmental certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We studied stimulus generalization of response patterns in a multiple peak procedure. • Two training stimuli differentially signaled an FI 5-s and FI 20-s schedule. • Response-rate patterns to one training stimulus generalized nearly exclusively. • This research provides a strong starting point for future studies of generalization under FI schedules. • A thorough understanding of generalization under FI schedules requires analyzing a range of dependent variables. Abstract Stimulus generalization is typically assessed by analyzing overall response rates. Studies of generalization of response-rate patterns across time are less common, despite the ubiquitous nature of time and the strong temporal control over behavior in the natural world. Thus, we investigated generalization of response-rate patterns across time using a multiple peak procedure in pigeons. The frequency (fast or slow) at which the color of a keylight changed signaled a fixed-interval (FI) 5-s or 20-s schedule, counterbalanced across subjects. In peak trials, the frequency of keylight-color changes was varied. For the fast and slow training stimuli, response rates in peak trials were controlled by the arranged FI schedule value; they increased as the arranged reinforcer time approached, and decreased thereafter. Response-rate patterns to all test stimuli were similar to response-rate patterns to the slow training stimulus for all subjects. Thus, overall, strong generalization from the slow training stimulus to all test stimuli was evident, whereas there was little to no generalization from the fast training stimulus. These findings extend past research examining generalization of temporally controlled response-rate patterns, and provide a useful starting point for future investigations of generalization of fixed-interval responding. A thorough understanding of generalization processes requires analysis of dependent variables other than overall response rates, especially when responding is likely to be temporally controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multivariate analysis is concerned with more than one dependent variable simultaneously. Models that generate event records have a privileged status in a multivariate analysis. From a model that generates event records, we may compute predictions for any dependent variable associated with those event records. However, because of the generality that is afforded to us by these kinds of models, we must carefully consider the selection of dependent variables. Thus, we present a conditional compromise heuristic for the selection of dependent variables from a large group of variables. The heuristic is applied to McDowell's Evolutionary Theory of Behavior Dynamics (ETBD) for fitting to a concurrent variable‐interval schedule in‐transition dataset. From the parameters obtained from fitting ETBD, we generated predictions for a wide range of dependent variables. Overall, we found that our ETBD implementation accounted well for various flavors of the log response ratio, but had difficulty accounting for the overall response rates and cumulative reinforcer effects. Based on these results, we argue that the predictions of our ETBD implementation could be improved by decreasing the base response probabilities, either by increasing the response latencies or by decreasing the sizes of the operant classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study revealed that, the control choice have both short-term and long-term effects and that the short-term effects increased, when the reinforcer ratios arranged were more extreme. The regular effects on preference of individual reinforces are not solely the results of rapidly changing contingencies.

This introduction to a special issue of Learning and Motivation on the topic of nonhuman animal social behavior briefly describes each of the research and review articles comprising it as they relate to several considerations broadly relevant to the study of nonhuman animal social behavior: its definition, the controlling variables of such behavior, methodological issues, and the relation of social behavior principles to general learning principles. The authors of these articles examine such questions as the reinforcement and stimulus control of animal social behavior, behavioral economics of animal social behavior, imitation learning, the nature of social reinforcement and its relation to other types of reinforcement, self-awareness, and neurogenetic variables related to social behavior. Species include rats, mice, monkeys, pigeons, dogs, and primates, and the methods vary from visual observation in natural and laboratory settings to computer-managed contingencies on social behavior of animals in highly controlled laboratory settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study and use of punishment in behavioral treatments has been constrained by ethical concerns. However, there remains a need to reduce harmful behavior unable to be reduced by differential‐reinforcement procedures. We investigated whether response‐contingent presentation of a negative discriminative stimulus previously correlated with an absence of reinforcers would punish behavior maintained by positive reinforcers. Across four conditions, pigeons were trained to discriminate between a positive discriminative stimulus (S+) signaling the presence of food, and a negative discriminative stimulus (S‐) signaling the absence of food. Once learned, every five responses on average to the S+ produced S‐ for a duration of 1.5 s. S+ response rate decreased for a majority of pigeons when responses produced S‐, compared to when they did not, or when a neutral control stimulus was presented. In Condition 5, choice between two concurrently presented S+ alternatives shifted away from the alternative producing S‐, despite a 1:1 reinforcer ratio. Therefore, presenting contingent S‐ stimuli punishes operant behavior maintained on simple schedules and in choice situations. Development of negative discriminative stimuli as punishers of operant behavior could provide an effective approach to behavioral treatments for problem behavior and subverting suboptimal choices involved in addictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment integrity is the extent to which interventionists implement treatment procedures as prescribed. The majority of treatment integrity research involving discrete-trial teaching (DTT) reports an overall score summarizing integrity across procedural components. Because DTT is a procedure consisting of multiple steps, practitioners may find it helpful to report integrity data separately for each component (i.e., component integrity). Recent research has found that high levels of overall integrity are not always representative of high integrity for individual treatment components. The purpose of this study was to assess component integrity of DTT programs occurring in the natural environment with a specific emphasis on identifying integrity errors for an error-correction procedure consisting of remedial trials. The results showed that high overall levels of integrity did not correspond to high levels of integrity for the remedial trial portion of the error-correction procedures. We discuss the implications of the results for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models that generate event records have very general scope regarding the dimensions of the target behavior that we measure. From a set of predicted event records, we can generate predictions for any dependent variable that we could compute from the event records of our subjects. In this sense, models that generate event records permit us a freely multivariate analysis. To explore this proposition, we conducted a multivariate examination of Catania's Operant Reserve on single VI schedules in transition using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo scheme for Approximate Bayesian Computation. Although we found systematic deviations between our implementation of Catania's Operant Reserve and our observed data (e.g., mismatches in the shape of the interresponse time distributions), the general approach that we have demonstrated represents an avenue for modelling behavior that transcends the typical constraints of algebraic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisms that behave so as to forfeit a relatively higher overall rate of reinforcement in favor of a relatively lower rate are said to engage in suboptimal choice. Suboptimal choice has been linked with maladaptive behavior in humans. Melioration theory offers one explanatory framework for suboptimal choice. Melioration theory suggests behavior is controlled by differences in local reinforcer rates between alternatives. Vaughan (1981) arranged two experimental conditions in which maximizing the overall rate of reinforcement required behavior that was compatible, or incompatible, with melioration. Vaughan found pigeons allocated more time to a locally richer alternative even when doing so resulted in suboptimal choice. However, Vaughan did not show whether these effects could systematically reverse and did not provide within-session data to show that choice across short time spans remains under the control of differences in local reinforcer rates. The present study used pigeons to replicate and extend Vaughan's findings. We investigated shifts in overall- and within-session choice across repeated conditions, according to arranged local contingencies. Behavior systematically followed changes in local contingencies for most pigeons. Within-session data suggests that, providing differences in local reinforcer rates are discriminated, pigeons will allocate more time to a locally richer alternative, even if this leads to suboptimal choice. These findings facilitate the more confident use of similar procedures that investigate how melioration contributes to suboptimal choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing the appropriate response given the circumstance is integral to all aspects of human behavior. One way of elucidating the mechanisms of choice is to relate behavior to neural correlates. Electrophysiological evidence implicates the ERP feedback-negativity (FN) and the P300 as promising neural correlates of reward processing, an integral component of learning. However, prior research has not adequately addressed how the development of a preference to select one option over another (choice preference) relates to the FN and the P300. We assessed whether variation in choice preference predicted the FN and P300 amplitude within subjects. We used a discrete-trials two-alternative choice procedure, where the reinforcer rate for each option was dependently scheduled by a concurrent variable interval. The reinforcer ratio for selecting each option was varied between sessions. Choice was quantified using both the generalized matching law sensitivity and the log odds of staying on the same versus switching to the other alternative (stay preference). The relationship between stay preference, FN, and P300 amplitudes was assessed using the innovative application of hierarchical Bayesian linear regression. The results demonstrate that stay preference was controlled by the reinforcer ratios and credibly predicted the FN amplitude but not P300 amplitude. The findings are consistent with the view that reinforcers may guide behavior by what they signal about future reinforcement, with the FN related to such a process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]